୨⎯chapter fifteen, banishment.⎯୧
⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚
𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐓 on her bed curled up in a ball, she was staring out into the glade that seemed darker than usual. tears were glistening over her eyes, she tried to hold them back but the sight of ben's distorted face hanging over her body was enough to make a few trickle down her damp face. madelyn had been sitting in her room for the past half an hour while the boys had a gathering discussing what to do with ben. they had called the gathering as soon as the runners had arrived back from the maze, not giving them a moment to process the information.
the girl didn't want to speak to anyone, she didn't want them to see her like this. it was weird how one minute she could be laughing with newt and the next, her own friend trying to kill her. madelyn didn't blame ben, she knew he didn't mean it. she felt guilty about whatever was going to happen to the boy, he was her friend after all.
a small knock at the door lifted her out of her clouded thoughts. madelyn turned her head to see newts sympathetic face standing at her doorway. "maddy?" he spoke in his soothing voice as he noticed the girl's crumpled position. he knew she didn't like to show when she was sad, she thought it would make her seem weak, but newt knew she needed someone to support her. and he promised himself that would always be him, no matter what.
madelyn sent him a weak smile as she wiped away the stray tears with the cuffs of her hoodie, she patted the empty space next to her motioning for him to sit. he walked slowly over to the bed his soft eyes never leaving the girls curled up body, he grabbed her hand and began to gently stroke it with his fingers.
"are you okay?" he asked in an almost whisper.
madelyn stayed silent and nodded as she finally made eye contact with him, it sent a wave of understanding over her. she knew newt would always understand. he saw the tears glistening over her eyes and gently pulled the girl into a hug, it was filled with all sorts of emotions, sadness, anger, grief, too many to process. they stayed in the same position for about thirty seconds, his hand on her head stroking her hair as she gripped onto his back trying to hold in her emotions. madelyn didn't know why she found it so hard to tell people how she felt, or why she never wanted anyone to see her emotions. all she knew right now is she never wanted to let go of the boy in her grip, he was the one thing she was certain about.
madelyn pulled away slowly and hung her head staring down at her lap, newts soft touch still lingering on her shaking hands. "what's going to happen to him?" she asked her voice trembling slightly.
newt sighed and shook his head slowly. "im sorry maddy, he's going to be banished." the girl felt her heart drop at the words. banished, something no one deserved no matter how much pain they've caused. she didn't know ben as well as newt, gally, minho or chuck but he was a sweet boy. chuck and her once played one of their pranks on him and instead of getting mad, he asked to join them. he didn't deserve what was coming to him, for some reason the girl felt guilty about it. that this terrible fate coming to this boy was all her fault.
"you know, it's not your fault maddy. you couldn't do anything." newt spoke like he read her mind.
madelyn nodded in understanding, he knew her too well for his own sake. "do you think it'll hurt?"
"what?"
she inhaled a long breath not wanting to speak the words she was about to say, the girl fiddled with newts fingers trying to distract herself. "dying."
death had always been a strange concept to madelyn, she thought about dying a lot, she didn't know if it was because something that happened before the glade. did it hurt? where do you go? do you get to be happy in the afterlife?
"yeah, i do. i think it'll hurt for a little bit and then eventually.. all the pain will go away. pain is only temporary maddy, he's not going to hurt forever." newt replied in a saddened tone, ben was his friend to, it wasn't easy on him.
madelyn nodded the words reassuring her that her friend wouldn't be in pain forever. "thanks, newt." she spoke as she looked into his brown eyes, his gaze was filled with sympathy and sadness.
"they're about to do it now, banish him. they want you and thomas to be there." he sighed, he didn't want the girl to be there he knew it would affect her, but he had to listen to albys orders.
madelyn blinked at him in shock, chills running down her at the thought of what she was about to witness. she clenched her jaw and swallowed her feelings, she knew she couldn't avoid this forever. she would have to face ben at some point whether it was seeing him healed or seeing him accept his fate.
the girl slowly stood to her feet and placed her shaky hand around newts arm as he led her out of her comforting room and into the dark atmosphere of the glade. as they walked out she noticed how every boy was standing near the east doors which were about five minutes away from closing. grunting was heard in the distance as she turned her head, her gaze was met with the sight of a struggling ben being carried by four of the strongest boys over to the semi circle of gladers.
madelyn replaced her tear stained face with her usual emotionless expression and let out a shaky breath as they began to walk over to the group, she stood beside thomas who was on the outskirts of the crowd. newt sent the girl a reassuring nod as he continued his way over to the circle of boys, before getting handed a pole and taking his position. madelyn placed a hand on thomas's shoulder letting him know she was there, he looked down at her and the two locked eyes. she couldn't imagine how he felt, the poor boy had only been here a day and probably still didn't know who he was. overwhelmed was probably an understatement. madelyn felt a weird attachment to him, even though she had only known him a day, she couldn't quite describe how it made her feel but every time she was around him it itched something in her brain, it made her feel like she wanted to protect him.
madelyn turned her head back around once she heard a voice echo through the glade, her hair blowing slightly behind her in the breeze that flowed from the maze.
"no, no, no! just listen to me!" ben growled as minho gripped onto him from the rope around his wrists. "just listen to me please! minho!" the boy huffed as they paced through the group waiting on them. "alby!"
minho had brought ben to the center of the entrance as the boys closed the circle and brought down their wooden sticks making sure there was no way of him escaping. minho kneeled ben to his knees and grabbed a small knife out of his back pack before slicing the rope that was restraining ben. ben's arms flew to the floor, now on his hands and knees he began to cough up some black liquid. he glanced up once again and started to freak out once he saw the doors in front of him, knowing his fate was laid out ahead of him. madelyn felt her eyes water as she saw her helpless friend on the floor crying, pleading for them to help him.
"no, no, no please!" ben cried out as he watched minho walk in front of him with a brown runners bag that used to be ben's. "please! please don't do it!" whatever was growing inside him had progressed since the girl last saw him, he was too weak to fight back.
minho tensed his jaw and swallowed as he turned his gaze to alby who sadly nodded his head as he gripped onto his wooden pole, his face was scrunched up slightly as if he was in physical pain at the thought of what he was about to do. minho took one last glance to his runner partner before throwing the bag into the maze as the walls began to shift, the increase of blowing air making ben whimper in fear. "poles!" the boys around the circle reached for their large poles pointing them at the terrified boy in the middle. "move in!"
ben stumbled up of the ground trying to find away out of the situation. "no, no, no!" he whimpered as the group was getting closer and the circle smaller, the boys doing their best to push him in. "maddy! please i'm sorry! i didn't mean too!" the boy cried out as his frantic eyes made contact with the girls. "tell them! he did it! i know you were there! please!" ben yelled as the walls began to close. "i can get better! please listen to me!" the boys cried as he ran towards newt who drove him further back.
her eyes glistened over in tears as she watched helplessly, still gripping onto thomas's arm digging her fingernails into him. she wanted to look away but she couldn't, something just wouldn't let her. it felt like her whole body was numb, her mind was empty.
the boys kept pushing, showing no mercy to the begging boy. "push him in!" alby yelled as they had gotten to the end of the entrance leaving ben in the middle of the grumbling walls closing in on either side of him.
madelyn felt a lump in her throat as he let out one final gut wrenching sob. "maddy!" the boy yelled out pleading for the girl's help as she was his last resort. "help me! tell them he did it!"
"im sorry, ben." she spoke, wiping her tears away as ben had no other choice but to enter the maze or be crushed by the walls. he stopped struggling against the sticks and began to smash his hands on the stone walls. her lip quivered as she saw the last of ben's face before the humongous doors banged shut, hiding him away and quieting his screams.
everyone stopped, almost frozen in time. their eyes all turnt to madelyn and thomas, some of their gazes were filled with anger and hurt, some were filled with sympathy and sadness. the girl stood frozen in place, tears still sliding slowly down her damp face, but her expression looked numb.
"he belongs to the maze now." alby announced to the group who stayed quiet as the leader began to stride away. the girl let go of her harsh grip on thomas's arm, causing him to glance down at her. she gave him one last look filled with hurt before following behind alby, feeling everyone's eyes burning on her back.
madelyn stormed across the glade as the rest of the boys began to disperse, not bothering to look back at whoever was calling her name. she felt her breath hitch as she slammed the wooden door to the bathroom shut. her bottom lip quivered as she tried to catch her breath and stop the tears from flowing, the sound of ben's screams were playing in her head like a broken record. her vision became blurry, and she willed herself not to blink, knowing that if she did, she wouldn't be able to stop crying.
but eventually comes a time where you just have to stop. stop holding things in, stop worrying about what others will think. there comes a time in everyone's life where there's pain beyond anything ever imagined, of course madelyn didn't know if she had felt this much pain before. but that's how she felt as she gripped the sides of the sink as hard as she could. she wished she could just disappear, run away from these four walls that had enclosed on her and who she was. she felt useless. madelyn closed her eyes, finally letting a few tears crawl down her face. bens haunted eyes made their way into her mind, that's when she finally let it go. she opened her mouth, but no sound came out as she lowered herself onto the dirty floor. she scooted herself against the wall, and took a shaky breath. her body rocked with every sob, and she threw her shaking fists around, looking for something to hit to release her emotions.
anger, stress, sadness, guilt. all of it was coming out now. all of the things she'd held in for the past month, her wall just came crashing down. she didn't care if the boys heard her, she was tired of acting like she was as strong as them. all the while she couldn't help but think it was her fault ben got banished. he didn't deserve it. and now he was going to die out there, knowing his own friends were the ones who sent him to his fate. the guilt the girl felt for herself tore a hole in her heart as she held her head in her hands and sobbed.
eventually madelyn had calmed herself down and gained the strength to stand up. when she opened the door, the first thing she noticed was that it was dark. the only light that remained were the ones from the torches and small flames in jars. she snuck quietly past the hammocks of sleeping boys and up the steps, feeling the pure sadness and guilt gnaw at her insides. the girl kept her eyes on the floor as she made the short walk to her room, opening her door and almost screaming in surprise.
"hey." minho breathed out a laugh at the girls surprised expression. he held a jar with a flame inside it, madelyn shook her head at him and walked the rest of the way into her room without a word. "where'd ya go? newt was looking for you."
"needed to blow off some steam." she mumbled, grabbing a new shirt out of her cupboard. "are you gonna get out or are you going to watch me get changed?"
he wiggled his eyebrows at her as she groaned in annoyance. he laughed and turned around looking out the window into the night sky as madelyn rolled her eyes and quickly swapped shirts. "okay." she muttered, letting him know that he could turn around. she threw the tear stained shirt that held so many memories into the corner of her room, reminding herself to never touch it again.
"so.." minho started, watching as the girl pull her hair out of the messy ponytail and grabbed a brush from her desk. "are we going to talk about it?"
madelyn froze, wondering if he really wanted to talk about the horrific thing they both had to watch. "talk about what?" she asked in disbelief.
he pointed at her. "you."
"oh." she sighed relieved that they didn't have to talk about ben. but when she realised what he had said she quickly shook her head. "theres nothing to talk about." she mumbled. "just leave me alone and go to sleep."
"won't happen even if i tried." he sighed. madelyn scoffed in understanding as she pulled a giant knot out of her hair. minho hissed through his teeth and cringed. "did that hurt?"
"no." she smirked slightly.
he shook his head like he had gotten the chills. "i could feel that on my scalp. seriously maddy you need to take better care of yourself."
"what are you talking about?" maddelyn rolled her eyes at minho, who pursed his lips and looked at the girl like he knew she was hiding something. when she gave him the same look back, he groaned and stood up, making his way over to her. madelyn swiftly wiped her still damp cheeks with the sleeves of her shirt, hoping he wouldn't notice.
but minho notices everything.
he gave her a fake smile. "you forget that i know you maddy. i know you don't like anyone to see how you feel but seriously, just let us in. let us help you." he asked in a pleading tone as he grabbed the girls hands and began to shake them as he spoke. "your not weak maddy, its normal to feel sad you don't need to pretend."
she slowly nodded, she knew minho was right but she felt ashamed of her emotions, she didn't know why. she wished she could open up but she physically couldn't, as much as she wanted to trust people something was always in the back of her mind telling me not to. "i know." the girl mumbled.
"just tell me what's going on, i want to help." he begged.
madelyn scoffed. "what the hell do you want me to say minho? i don't even know myself how i'm feeling. you cant help me." she snapped.
he went silent for a few seconds, taken aback by the girl's words. but he knew she didn't mean it, she was just in pain. minho wanted to help the girl but he couldn't if she wouldn't accept it. "okay, just know we're all here for you, okay? i don't think we would still be standing without you maddy, seriously."
she sent him a weak smile, appreciating his words. "i know min, thank you."
he smiled at her sympathetically, before walking out of her room again and shutting the door quietly behind him, leaving an empty feeling inside the girl again. minho always understood her she appreciated him, she just wished she could show it.
madelyn sighed and crawled into her messy bed, and under the blanket huddling herself as she tried to keep warm. she stared numbly up at the ceiling, her mind still racing with thoughts. she felt guilty for snapping at minho, but he couldn't help her. no one could. she layed in silence for a while, trying to process the horrible events of the day she had until she finally drifted off to a deep slumber.
✰
a small brunette girl that looked around 6 years old was sat around a table in a cluttered kitchen with a brunette boy that looked about a year older than her. they were sat in silence as they listened into the conversation that was happening in the hallway, a woman's voice and a man's voice seemed to be discussing something. the girl glanced nervously at the boy who recognised her expression and grabbed her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. the two were inseparable, they knew everything about each other, they would do anything for eachother. she knew he would never let anything happen to her, and he knew the same.
after about ten minutes of eavesdropping the squeaky door to the kitchen flung open, a strange man with grey hair, a women with blonde hair that was in a tight bun and a short haired brunette women walked inside. she had a terrified expression on her face as she rushed over to the two children. "thomas, madelyn, you need to trust me okay?" she held onto the two kids hands shaking her head in almost a pleading way, her eyes were wide.
the boy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "mum, what's going on? who are they?"
"my name is ava paige, and this is janson." the blonde woman introduced herself. "we are going to help you."
the man stepped forward, a creepy smirk sat on his face. "don't worry, you'll be safe with us."
something about them made the two children feel uncomfortable, like they weren't trustworthy. their gut was telling them something wasn't right.
"mummy? what's happening?" the small girl's voice trembled as she looked up to her mother with innocent pleading eyes.
"im sorry honey, it's too dangerous here. i had to do it. i promise you'll be safe with them." tears began to trickle down her face as she reassured the girl, but it seemed like she was reassuring herself too.
"do what?" the boy asked, the burning confusion taking over him. but before the women could answer his question he was being ripped out from under his seat by a man in a black uniform and a mask that covered his face. the man roughly held a grip on him as another one harshly grabbed the small girl by her flinging arms. the two of them began to get dragged away, they tried to protest but the more they did the stronger the men's grip became.
"mummy? mummy!" the girl screamed trying to get released from the harsh grip of the guard. the woman stood helplessly rooted to the spot, tears now streaming down her face as she watched her children get ripped away from her. the guard's grip tightened on the girl as he dragged her out of the room, finally losing sight of her mother. she began to scream out for her brother who was now out of her sight too. she glanced behind her and saw ava and janson walking calmly behind them, an almost amused look on their faces. tears now streamed down her terrified face as she was suddenly thrown into the back of some kind of dark van, the grey haired man stepping in after her and slamming the door shut.
"maddy? maddy where are you!" the boys voice called from outside but began to become muffled as he was thrown into a different van. the girl crawled into the corner and brung her legs up to her chin and she shook in fear, her breathing began to quicken as she realised the situation. she didn't know who these people where, she didn't know where they were taking her and most importantly she didn't know where her brother was. she couldn't remember a second of her life when her brother wasn't there beside her, and here she was now alone and scared.
the man's creepy smirk suddenly appeared in front of her, she attempted to crawl further away from him but was cornered. he placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "this is all for your own good, madelyn."
"madelyn."
"madelyn?"
"madelyn!"
⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚
authors note
please vote and comment, any advice or tips is appreciated x